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What are you reading the week of November 21, 2010?

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DUgosh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-20-10 11:57 PM
Original message
What are you reading the week of November 21, 2010?
Desperate Measures by Kate Wilhelm
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jannyk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-21-10 01:21 AM
Response to Original message
1. Halfway through Follett's "Fall of Giants"
I'd be much further along if it wasn't so heavy - I'm really enjoying it!
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cartouch100 Donating Member (19 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-21-10 07:24 AM
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2. Gotta say that it all depends on what I'm feeling like
So far, I'm reading a little bit of Grisham's The Confession and a sort of new book by Leland Gregory called Stupid History.
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no_hypocrisy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-21-10 09:22 AM
Response to Original message
3. "Sarah From Alaska"
I'm still gonna read McGinniss' book.
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Dr. Strange Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-21-10 08:48 PM
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4. Dexter by Design, by Jeff Lindsay
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hamerfan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-21-10 09:51 PM
Response to Original message
5. Still making it through
Edited on Sun Nov-21-10 09:54 PM by hamerfan
"Life", by Keith Richards. A very good book, IMHO.
ON EDIT:
Oops. I thought I was in the non-fiction section.
In this case, I'm reading "The Lost Symbol", by Dan Brown. Halfway through and I like it.
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fadedrose Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-21-10 11:19 PM
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6. HELL'S KITCHEN HOMICIDE & CRYSTAL DEATH by Charles Kipps
Read Crystal Death first, didn't care for it. Quickly went thru Hell's Kitchen Homicide and decided it wasn't right for me. The characters had no depth, history or personality. I have to care about the characters to like a book. Easy to read, author somewhat successful, but . . . maybe somebody out there may like them..
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Hamlette Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-22-10 12:29 AM
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7. love Kate Wilhelm. Have you read the ones based on Molly Ivins?
Mary Willis Walker. I swear her main character is Molly. Very good. I get Walker and Kate Wilhelm mixed up for some reason.
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DUgosh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-23-10 02:27 PM
Response to Reply #7
11. Mary Willis Walker
Does she write Legal thrillers, I like the legal thrillers written by women authors such as Rose Connors, Perri O Shaughnessy, and Kate Wilhelm. Can you recommend other similar legal thrillers by women writers, ( I tried Scottoline but didn't finish one.)
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Hamlette Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-23-10 07:34 PM
Response to Reply #11
12. can't think of legal thrillers per se off the top but I'll keep it in mind
I read about 3 mysteries a week...sometimes history, biography but can't think of women authors of legal thrillers.

Mary Willis Walker doesn't do legal thrillers, but I love her Molly Ivins heroine.
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MaineDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-22-10 10:03 AM
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8. "Hell's Corner" by David Baldacci
The Camel Club is back.
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fadedrose Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-22-10 01:26 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. Good! Didn't know there was a new one out.....read'm all
Edited on Mon Nov-22-10 01:31 PM by fadedrose
Just requested it - am #35 on the list ;)

Thanks..
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Little Star Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-25-10 12:01 PM
Response to Reply #8
17. Love Baldacci. Camel club series is a good read.
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matt819 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-26-10 10:19 PM
Response to Reply #8
20. Possible spoiler alert
I'll try to be careful here.

I just finished listening to it today. Lots of twists and turns. While the Camel Club is active and several key plot elements revolve around them, they do not seem to have the same substantial roles they've had in previous books. Collectively, though, they really are a hoot.

I remember reading many years about a comment about how in war movies no one ever seems to run out of bullets. That's the case here, sort of.

The bad guy (no spoiler here - just "bad guy") has an endless supply of confederates, hitmen, multinational mercenaries, knowledge, access, weapons, instantaneous communication with no glitches, etc. Granted, Baldacci justifies it in part by giving the bad guy a major bank account that would pay for any of these. But, really, how do all these mercenaries enter the US unnoticed and gain access to all the weapons they could possibly need? How does the bad guy gain access to super secret dossiers and facilities and, of course, use this information to test Oliver Stone to the limit.

Also, you can pretty much see the final twist coming, though you begin to doubt yourself, and that's fair enough. But the final twist just doesn't make any sense. Okay, maybe none of the Camel Club makes sense, but the explanation for this particular twist is just too farfetched.

It's kind of like the Jack Reacher novels. Reacher is one of my favorite series characters. I mean, how can you not love a guy who travels just with the clothes on his back along with a toothbrush? My hero. But where does he get money? How does he turn a rubber band and piece of typing paper into a lethal weapon? And once the situations do present themselves where weapons are available, there doesn't seem to be a shortage of either ammo or weapons.

Just some observations. That said, I liked Hell's Corner but can't wait for the next in the Maxwell/King series. At least there's at least some lip service to reality (okay, except for the parts where, for example, King's house is blown up and he is hardly affected by it).
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MaineDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 07:08 AM
Response to Reply #20
22. I just finished it
I doubted myself throughout the book. Lots of twists. And some improbable situations.

But a great read - or listen in my case.
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LWolf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-23-10 01:41 PM
Response to Original message
10. The Arhurian saga by Stephen Lawhead.
It's well done, but I don't like it much. Too much christian white-wash. Merlin as a devout christian crusading for Jesus against the evil others, including the druids, refusing to use the magic of his birthright...:puke:

I don't know if I'm going to finish it.

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Curmudgeoness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-23-10 07:46 PM
Response to Original message
13. The Book of Old Houses by Sarah Graves
Never read anything by her before, but I am enjoying it. Home repair/mystery/humor?
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mvccd1000 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-24-10 04:02 AM
Response to Original message
14. Catching up on some Robert Crais...
...novels I had missed, and starting on a new (to me) author in Mike Lawson. I'm halfway through "The Inside Ring," and I haven't decided if I'm going to like DeMarco (the protagonist) or not. I guess I'd say I'm somewhat indifferent to him and the other characters at this point. The story has me interested, though, so I'm still slogging through.
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fadedrose Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-24-10 01:04 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. Try THE FIVE MINUTE RULE
Read it long time ago and I liked it....a stand-alone, not series..
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mvccd1000 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 02:52 AM
Response to Reply #15
21. I've read the Two Minute Rule...
... and eleven others. I thought I had read them all, but I found a couple on Amazon I hadn't seen yet. He's not my favorite, but I've enjoyed all of his books enough to keep buying them.

(Michael Connelly is my favorite... still waiting for another Harry Bosch book.)
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fadedrose Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 11:15 AM
Response to Reply #21
23. While you're waiting..
Edited on Sat Nov-27-10 11:16 AM by fadedrose
for Bosch (I love Hieronomous, too (sp)), try Craig Johnson and James D. Doss. Exciting with some humor too.

I check monthly for them...Doss has a new one out, I'm 2nd on the list now. His are about Charlie Moon, a 7' Ute policeman in Colorado. The first in the series has Charlie in a small role, his best friend now as the main character. After that, Charlie's the main character, along with his pain in the butt aged aunt.

Johnson's character is Sheriff Walt Longmire in Wyoming. Excitement and goofy characters. Can't wait till another comes out.

Best to start with the first one in both cases. William Kent Krueger is good too - He's up in Minnesota and MI's UP.

And I'm glad that Connelly killed off Harry's wife. She was a real pain.
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mvccd1000 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-28-10 12:35 AM
Response to Reply #23
25. Thanks, I'll check on those. (nt)
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fadedrose Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-24-10 01:08 PM
Response to Original message
16. A RULE AGAINST MURDER by Louise Penny
This is the 4th in the Armand Gamache of the Quebec police mystery series.
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fadedrose Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-26-10 08:48 PM
Response to Reply #16
19. I liked the first 3 better, but this one is memorable for sure..
Crazy family - too odd to describe, and the murder method is a new one to me...
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fadedrose Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-26-10 08:44 PM
Response to Original message
18. THE BRUTAL TELLING by Louise Penny
Starts out good.

Great to be back in 3 Pines with familiar likable characters...
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Lydia Leftcoast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 09:24 PM
Response to Original message
24. Just finished "The Likeness" by Tana French
It's not quite a sequel to "In the Woods," but it centers on Cassie Maddox, who was a fairly prominent character in "In the Woods."

The next book, whose name escapes me, centers on Frank Mackay, who is a fairly prominent character in "The Likeness."
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